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The Week Ahead: Tanaka drama nears conclusion

Free-agent market set to pick up once Japanese righty makes decision

MLB.com national reporter Lyle Spencer on how important it is for the Yankees to sign Masahiro Tanaka and who their main competition is

By Doug Miller
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MLB.com |

Finally, it's Tanaka time.

It might not happen Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, but sometime before this Friday is over, Major League Baseball and its observers worldwide will at last be aware of the landing spot for Japanese starter Masahiro Tanaka, who is expected to sign for well over $100 million.

The Week Ahead will likely start and finish with the continued speculation and ultimate reality of Tanaka's decision, and once it happens, the Hot Stove dominoes will start to fall just in time for the two-week mark for pitchers and catchers to report to their warm spring homes in Arizona and Florida.

The latest is that the Japanese newspaper Nikkan Sports reported that the Yankees, Dodgers, D-backs, White Sox and Cubs have submitted formal offers for Tanaka, 25, who went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball in 2013 and who will likely make his decision before or not long after the Friday cutoff date.

Not many teams have been talking about the specifics regarding their negotiations with Tanaka, and the pitcher and his agent, Casey Close, have kept quiet, too. Things figure to get a whole lot louder Friday.

One reason is that Tanaka's decision affects the rest of the Hot Stove set.

As soon as the details are worked out for Tanaka's soon-to-be mega-contract, the other free-agent headliners waiting in the wings -- and the teams that need pitching but missed out on the Japanese ace -- should come to quick agreements with Spring Training getting closer by the day.

And while there will be plenty of speculation on what could happen this week, we know a few things will happen. One event on the docket for The Week Ahead is the 25th annual Going to Bat for B.A.T. (Baseball Assistance Team) Dinner, set for Tuesday, and the other is the Baseball Writers' Association of America Dinner in New York on Saturday.

Meanwhile, we'll probably spend some of the week wondering, just like in many of the last eight or nine or 10 weeks, if certain things will unfold in front offices in the days ahead.

The former American League Cy Young Award winner is still in his 20s and has two more seasons remaining until free agency. We might soon find out if all that is working against the Rays as far as potential return in a potential blockbuster for a package of prospects.

We might also find out where the rest of the free agents are going, since the wheeling and dealing we usually see this time of the year has seemingly been on hold while the Tanaka situation unfolds.